The Third Circuit announced that, effective January 1, its new docket entries will be consecutively numbered.

Until now, entries on the docket were dated but not numbered, unlike docket entries in district courts. Adding numbers makes it a bit easier and more foolproof to cite, refer to, and store Third Circuit case documents.

(For pending cases, the old entries won’t be numbered retroactively, but new entries will be numbered as if they were.)

The notice posted on the court’s website stated, “We believe that the introduction of docket entry numbers will add clarity to the Court’s dockets and will benefit the public, litigants, and practitioners,” and I agree.